ISIS Gunmen Killed in Chechnya Prepared Large-Scale Terrorist Attacks

The militants of the Islamic State (IS) international terrorist organization wiped out in Chechnya’s capital Grozny on Thursday were preparing large-scale terrorist attacks, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said.

“According to the information obtained by our operatives, three gunmen who were trained in the camps of the ‘Satanic state’ arrived using different routes. It became known that they had been preparing major terrorist attacks during the holidays. Thanks to the vigilance of our units it became possible to disrupt these plans,” Kadyrov wrote on his social network page.

He noted that the decision to detain the group had been taken shortly before. Police officers stopped the car where the gang leader was. The gunmen opened precision fire injuring two police officers. The terrorist was wiped out by reprisal fire. “His identity has been established. That was Shamil Chergizov who had been on an international wanted list as IS member,” Kadyrov said.

Immediately after that, an operation to detain the remaining terrorists began. “They refused to negotiate offering resistance and were neutralized. One participant in the operation sustained a light gutter wound. Investigative action is underway to identify the possible accomplices of this group,” the Chechen leader said.

The special operation to neutralize the terrorists took place in Grozny’s Staropromyslovsky district. During the search, security forces found trotyl, mines, grenades, submachine guns and phones.

“The same will happen to anyone who will ever dare hatch a plot against the republic and the whole of Russia,” Kadyrov told reporters, adding that the gunmen had come from Syria where they had been trained on IS bases and took part in committing terrorist attacks there.

Islamic State is a terrorist group banned in a number of countries, including Russia. The Russian aviation has been carrying out surgical strikes on IS targets in Syria on the basis of the authorization given by the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, to use Russian Armed Forces against this terrorist group.